


Course Corrections (in Wartime)

by sunsetseas77



Series: Taking on Cadmus [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Developing Relationship, F/F, Feelings, Future Fic-ish, Lena team up with the DEO, Project Cadmus, canon compliant through end of S2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-01-09 16:13:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12280005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetseas77/pseuds/sunsetseas77
Summary: Lena brings a plan to the DEO to strike a significant blow against Cadmus. Her reappearance and strategy elicit both feelings and conflict from Kara.Sequel to Suit Up (for War)





	1. Proposal to the DEO

**Author's Note:**

> The backstory for this is pretty canon-compliant through the end of S2 and takes place about 11 mos after S2 (about 7 mo after SU4W). I received some nice feedback on SU4W and it encouraged me to write this from some snippets I had.

It’s a beautiful morning to be flying – a breeze blowing onshore is an ideal temperature regulator and smog disperser, the sky is a deep blue, and the occasional pack of cumulus clouds casts shadows across the ground. To the west of the city, the ocean is calm and surprisingly clear to the delight of beachgoers dotting the sand along the coast.

Kara has been reveling in the perfection of it while patrolling for a few hours at the request of the DEO, but an appointment she is determined to make at their desert headquarters has her breaking off despite the enjoyable conditions.

As steady wind currents encircle her during her flight back, she contacts Winn. "I’m heading in for the meeting you told me about, the one that may be about a turning point with Cadmus.” The last part ends on an upward inflection, optimism in her voice.

She hears a muffled noise, and when Winn comes through he’s obviously not talking to her, “What!?”

J’onn seems to have been the target for Winn’s question, but he completely ignores it as his ‘standard procedure’ voice reaches Kara, “You don’t need to come in, Supergirl. We still need to find that parasitic alien.”

Kara has already made her turn and accelerated, and she brushes J’onn off, “It’s staying under the radar; like you said it favors nocturnal activity. We’ve alerted all known members of the potential host species and you have Guardian and a DEO team out there to monitor things. We’ve been deadlocked with Cadmus for months. I want to be a part of knocking them back and preferably out.”

The volume of J’onn’s voice rises, “Supergirl...”

Just as J’onn gets the third syllable out, Kara enters the dark, dry, subterranean tunnel in the DEO facility with an entry coded to her physiology and heat signal, flying through and up to land across from the tactical room. As she walks with purpose in her step through the bustle of agents managing intelligence, communications, and daily operations, she sees Alex, Agent Vasquez, and Agent Jensen, the strategic operations lead, circled around the room’s main table. Two dark-haired women dressed in charcoal grey and black tactical gear that differs noticeably from DEO-issue are also there with their backs to her.

J’onn appears to have been moving from where Winn sits to the left of the room into a position to intercept but stops before Kara passes by him. Kara’s sure he sensed the futility of turning her around this close to her destination.

Her attention is caught by motion as one of the visitors starts to turn and an instant of confusion gives way to shock as she recognizes Lena Luthor. Her step almost falters but she catches herself in time and stops just outside the open door.

The realization that Lena is only feet from her causes her memory to indulge in a crash course on her life from the point Lena went off the radar to battle Cadmus almost seven months ago up to this moment. Her highs and lows as a reporter and National City’s protector flash by, but what underlies it all is that she has missed Lena immensely, her presence and their conversations, during the time they’ve been away from each other.

Their time apart hasn’t been completely devoid of contact, but it’s been close to it. Jess had been the only thing that kept a communications blackout at bay. When Jess contacted Kara about eight weeks after Lena’s departure from the L Corp safehouse they had shared while Kara recovered from being injured and blowing out her powers against Cadmus-allied aliens, it was done under the guise of an interview Jess needed to discuss. In that meeting it became clear that Jess was serving as a courier to let Kara know Lena’s whereabouts, be it Istanbul or London or Gotham or other metropolitan centers with L Corp contacts and possible Cadmus allies present.

She and Jess had worked out the rules of engagement during that first meeting, though in reality Kara had the rules dictated to her ---

_“Can’t you tell me anything else? Or get her a message?”_

_“That’s all I have to tell you. And this is one-way only.”_

_“Does she know?”_

_“Of course. She asked me to try to make contact with you, so you wouldn’t worry so much.”_

_“And if I try to find her?”_

_“You won’t find her. And it will bring this to an end.” _\---__

Kara chafed under the terms but respected them. Knowing where Lena was, that she was alive, helped her fight off her worries about Lena’s safety. Every 4-6 weeks Jess found her in passing on a crowded street or square or as they stood in a customer line near each other and a city’s name would be voiced between them; Jess particularly liked the ‘fake phone conversation with Kara eavesdropping’ ploy. 

In their second meet, Kara picked up a carefully dropped post-it with a scribbled message in Lena’s handwriting ‘Safe here. Pls be safe too.’ Three weeks ago, she heard “Rio” as only the second small note had landed in her handbag on the floor of a cafe. After reading the recognizable scrawl - ‘Making good progress, miss you.’ - Kara flew to the top of Mt. Whitney and watched the stars for hours, contemplating how factors she could and couldn’t control had gotten her there. Lena’s words helped, but they also brought Kara’s submerged feelings on loss to the surface.

While Kara’s brain takes this Kryptonian-quick trip through her memories, helping process her surprise, Lena has turned completely towards her, brushing her hair back and making eye contact. Her expression is guarded but Kara sees a hint of happiness in those green eyes and her own lips curve upward. 

The connection between them is brief as Lena looks back among the other group members. Kara does the same. Alex is eyeing Kara with that focused, careful look that she uses solely for her while Jensen and Vasquez’s expressions are neutral, used to Supergirl’s unannounced appearances and unaware of any undercurrents. The final member of the group, the woman standing next to Lena, presumably her associate, has also turned and is sizing Kara up.

J’onn’s words from just prior to her arrival return to Kara. Seeing what she is seeing now, her thoughts leap to an assumed intent behind them. She turns and strides back to where J’onn is still standing, stopping just short of him to whisper angrily, “Were you trying to keep me from this?”

J’onn’s expression remains impassive and he inhales to answer.

“Supergirl,” Alex comes up beside them and draws her away from J’onn, the tactical room, and the activities of the other DEO agents, but only because Kara softens enough to let her. 

Coming to a stop facing away from everyone Alex murmurs, “Kara, there’s no conspiracy against you here.”

Kara shifts her body to remove herself from Alex’s grip and folds her arms, voice stern, “You knew about this. Why wasn’t I told?”

Alex’s hand returns to lightly rest on Kara’s bicep, her voice calm as she looks at her, “I found out this morning.” She turns her head towards the room, then back to Kara. “And they didn’t ask for you.”

Confronted with that information, Kara struggles to maintain an even tone, “Did they ask for me to be excluded?”

Alex shakes her head, “No, but J’onn didn’t feel you needed to be included.”

Kara sputters at that, “What…”

Alex interrupts, her voice firm, “Kara, if this involved different people, would you react differently? This is just J’onn managing a meeting with a potential collaborator.”

Her words cause Kara to pause, to acknowledge that perspective.

Alex continues, a slight plea creeping in “Look, you’re here now. Come to the operations meeting. We can talk more about this afterwards.”

Kara knows Alex is trying to keep her from digging herself into an adversarial position with J’onn, possibly without justification. Honestly, she can’t deny that her emotional investment is affecting her. She closes her eyes and rests her teeth against her lower lip. She wants to be at this meeting not start a fight. She nods once, opening her eyes and tipping her head back towards the room where J’onn has now joined the others. 

Alex visibly relaxes, muttering, “Thank you,” as she leads them both into the room.

“Supergirl’s joining us,” Alex breaks the silence that had settled in the room while Kara and she had talked. “I think we’ve all been introduced with one exception.” She takes two steps back and Lena takes one back as well, clearing a way to Kara. 

Lena’s associate who is about an inch shorter than Lena with dark brown eyes and the lean build of an endurance athlete makes her way to Kara with Lena following to make introductions, her eyes shifting between them, “Supergirl, Cassandra Kateb. Supergirl, Ms. Kateb is a risk analyst with my team.”

The woman has stepped up to Kara, placing herself between Kara and her team leader, as she sticks out her hand in introduction, “Casey.” Kara interprets the look she is getting from Casey as critical, bordering on unfriendly. She takes the offered hand, “Supergirl,” and indulges in her own appraising head-to-toe look.

She hears Alex move away when J’onn addresses the group, “We need to pull in a few feeds and access Ms. Luthor’s files. Agent Schott will be helping us with that. We’ll reconvene in the conference room in five minutes.”

Lena, oblivious to any tension, places a hand on Casey’s shoulder, “Casey, could you help them out with any of the needed feeds and file transfers?”

Casey drops Kara’s hand and turns to her. “Of course, Lena.” She gives Kara a final glance before turning and walking out to where J’onn and Alex are now talking to Winn at his station.

Kara squints after her for a few seconds before turning back to Lena, forehead smooth again. A mixture of feelings underlies everything, but she retains her composed expression and starts simple, “Hi.”

Lena gives her a soft smile. “Hi.” And that’s all it takes for Kara to feel her cheeks pink up and a grin grow to overcome any calm and collected appearance she was trying to maintain.

“Could we….”, Kara points to the other side of the room and takes two steps, continuing to the corner she was indicating when Lena follows. Vasquez and Jensen are leaned up against an opposite wall, talking quietly and paying no attention to them.

Over by the corner they stand together at an appropriate distance for colleagues, though Kara notices they each seem to be trying to close that gap by tilting heads towards each other. She also observes Lena’s hands slowly clenching and unclenching around each other and she looks questioningly from Lena’s hands to her face.

Lena sees the glance and her smile turns somewhat pained. She keeps her voice low, “It seems we're an issue. I’m sorry about that.”

Kara’s response is equally quiet and laced with doubt, “I wasn’t asked to be here and I reacted poorly when I found out. Is it OK with you that I’m here?”

Some of Kara’s underlying anxiety from her moments with J’onn and Alex disappears as Lena nods, “We’re here to brief the DEO and request assistance on an operation against Cadmus that should be mutually beneficial. I didn’t dictate to the director who should attend. I don’t know why you weren’t invited. Possibly because it’s a planning only meeting or because, if we and the DEO come to an agreement, this would involve some close collaboration with outside people. There may be worry about exposure given that I’m the only one on my team who knows your civilian identity. Regardless of your involvement, I still hoped to see you.”

“I guess the lack of an invitation really isn’t that important,” Kara admits with a low chuckle. “I’ve gate-crashed my way in now.”

She moves her body so it and her cape block the space between them from any onlookers, then reaches down to where Lena’s hands are clenched together, nervousness still apparent. Kara slowly disentangles a hand in order to catch it in her own, gently interlacing their fingers. She keeps her eyes on their intertwined hands.

“Thank you, for the cryptic location updates and for the notes, for those little glimpses into how you were. They did help.”

“Good. I hoped they would. I can easily keep track of you on most days via news coverage, but I realize I’ve become mostly a ghost.” 

Kara hears Lena pause, then clear her throat to continue, “Kara, I know I wasn’t straightforward with you about leaving and what it meant, partly because it wasn’t completely clear to me at the time but also because I was afraid to throw one more charged topic into the little time we had. Thank god for Jess being willing to play secret agent for me. When she told me that you wanted to know more at that first meeting, I ignored the possibility it might have been so you could find me and yell at me; I just felt relief and gratitude. And when you continued to interact with her it gave me hope that I hadn’t destroyed our friendship.”

Kara doesn’t dwell on the characterization – they're friends after all. That ‘something else’ between them, well, any chance to explore that has been severely limited so far. 

Kara looks up at her, “You haven’t destroyed anything, Lena. I’m glad you’re here now.”

Lena’s soft smile is back and Kara’s heartrate elevates. “I am too. I just wish it was because we were done with this Cadmus mess. But it seems we’re stuck with having to take it one step at a time.”

Kara hears movement behind her as Vasquez and Jensen start to make their way to the conference room. Begrudgingly she lets Lena’s hand go and turns, then looks back over her shoulder. 

“Come on. It’s this way.”

\---

They arrive at the room and take seats on opposite sides of the table. The others are already present, but Alex is the only one who looks over at their entrance. From the look Alex gives her, Kara is certain they aren’t just going to be talking about meeting participation when they’re done here.

Winn and Casey finish organizing digital files and are the final ones to take their seats with Winn first securing the room.

J’onn, at the end of the table nearest the screen, rises and looks around the table before stopping at Lena.

“Ms. Luthor, it was a surprise to hear from you. A bit theatrical the way you got Agent Schott’s attention and verified your identity with that security breach.” He nods towards Winn who looks vaguely nauseated. Kara reads Lena’s face as both amused and mildly chastised by the remark; she feels an odd sense of pride in her friend. “But given you said you wanted to talk about crippling one of Cadmus’ biggest threats, we’re overlooking the ignorance of protocol in order to consider aligned interests. And you mentioned limited time so let’s cut any further pleasantries and proceed.”

J’onn sits and Lena rises from where she is sitting next to Casey, papers on the table in front of both of them. Her practiced poise in front of an audience is obvious as she begins speaking, “Thank you for agreeing to listen to our proposal. What I am about to talk about is in the strictest confidence given there are lives in immediate danger if the information gets out. We’re taking a risk sharing it, but I believe we have an opportunity that we may not see again.”

J’onn responds to the subtle statement of conditions, “Everyone here has appropriate security clearance and we can brief you further on our protocols around securing and disclosing information after this if needed.”

Lena acknowledges with a nod and continues, “I think we can all agree that one of the biggest threats that Cadmus poses is their knowledge of alien physiology and their ruthless drive to use that knowledge to create weapons in the form of either objects or beings. Their successes in that area have an impact on their propaganda and recruitment as well as on their field operations.

“Our team has been focusing on this aspect of the Project for over a year and it’s paid off. We’ve found and infiltrated a company that has a clandestine division capable of producing alien-human and alien-alien hybrid cell lines. Cadmus is interested in purchasing such materials. If they do business with this company, we have personnel in position who could engineer those lines to release a biological contaminant that would not only destroy the host lines but could spread to the cell and tissue cultures at the location where those hybrid lines would be delivered, Cadmus’ primary bioengineering facility.

Additionally, the contaminant is engineered to persist. We haven’t been able to completely test this, but if it works as predicted, it will be very difficult to sterilize a facility, making it subject to continuing infections, and likely abandonment.

“There is also the possibility of infecting cultures at secondary sites though such sites would be opportunistic targets. Our intelligence indicates that 80-90% of bioengineering operations occur at a primary site due to the specialized expertise and equipment needed for that work. A successful attack against the primary site alone will set Cadmus back substantially in their investigation of alien physiology and their work to weaponize humans and aliens.”

Kara glances around the room as Lena pauses; every member of the audience is focused on her. Kara’s not sure why, but she's uneasy.

Lena nods at Casey who uses a remote to bring up a graph on the screen at the front of the room, and then hands it to Lena. Lena looks to J’onn as she continues, “Registering that sort of hit on Cadmus would result in many positive outcomes, including protection of DEO interests. I’m sure you have your own analyses, but here are our numbers on casualties incurred from humans and aliens enhanced and assisted by Cadmus. We have them here for National City,” she uses a laser pointer Casey hands to her, “and here for the country. Obviously, there’s an upward trend with a notable change in the last three months as Cadmus has grown more sophisticated and attacks have accelerated.

“Also, you see a similar pattern in damage from attacks. Additionally, we've summed specific numbers for DEO damages. You're taking substantial losses. And, also related to DEO run-ins with Cadmus, we enumerated and identified those who interacted with Supergirl and left visible damage, along with the type of assistance and enhancement provided by the Project.”

Kara watches a number of familiar faces pass by on-screen courtesy of various feeds that Lena and Casey have accessed. As she looks away, she sees Alex first looking at her with an eyebrow raised slightly and then giving a quizzical look to Lena, who is speaking again with the parade of villains finished.

“Even this cursory look I’ve provided suggests that the DEO would significantly benefit from a decrease, if not an end, to attacks by enhanced individuals. Our plan of attack has numerous elements and we’ve come to ask for your assistance.”

J’onn’s eyes move from the screen to Lena. “What sort of assistance?”

Lena sets down the remote, folding her hands together in front of her. “First, the company we have infiltrated has one competitor for Cadmus’ attention, located in this country. We’re asking you to make it an unpalatable choice to Cadmus by having it come under government scrutiny. Given you have the ability to discretely influence government regulators, the DEO could help to push Cadmus to the company where we have planted people.

“Second, we don’t know exact locations for Cadmus’ bioengineering sites, though we’ve narrowed down the location of the primary site. We plan to incorporate tracking devices into the packaging. This will allow us to follow samples to their destination. A logical progression would be samples go to the primary site first and then are shipped out from there. So, tracking could lead us to secondary sites as well.

“However, tracking is limited by signal range. We need personnel and equipment to assist us. After locating the primary facility, we'd monitor it for a number of days to determine if any samples leave and where they go. At some point within the first week or two of the samples arriving, contamination will occur. 

“Just to be clear on outcomes from your assistance, an attack of this type has the potential of significantly reversing much of Cadmus’ physical progress in alien and hybrid cultures. They could re-build depending on their databases and archived samples, but they'll lose a year or more of work. Also, when shipping is imminent, we'll remove our people. That makes this a one-time opportunity.”

Lena finishes and looks around the room. J’onn shifts in his chair and an unspoken communication passes among him, Vasquez, and Jensen.

He looks back at Lena. “You’ve outlined an impressive strategy.”

“I have an impressive team,” Lena responds. “And I’m open to questions.”

Alex leans forward and puts her forearms on the table, speaking up, “How does the timing of release work? You mentioned a wide window.”

Kara’s attention is fixed on Lena; she’s wary of biological attacks and something about this is nagging at her. 

Lena turns to Alex to answer, “Samples would be transported at low temperature in a suspension that we’ll add a suppressor to in order to insure the contaminant stays dormant. Given how quickly Cadmus has been moving with these companies, they urgently want these materials. They'll culture them upon receipt in a growth medium that our people will provide the recipe for. The contaminant will be activated by that medium, and it will take 6-8 days to reach needed levels within cultures. It will then aerosolize to affect other lines present.”

When Lena stops speaking, Kara, who’s grown more troubled with this answer, immediately follows up, “How quickly does the contaminant act to take out other lines?”

Lena’s gaze shifts to Kara. “The host lines will break down first, releasing the contaminant. Death of the host lines will likely be the first indication that there is a problem. As soon as it’s aerosolized in the presence of the other tissue and cell lines, it’s a matter of an hour. It strikes quickly, so Cadmus can't develop countermeasures.”

The issue Kara has with this crystallizes. “What about subjects at Cadmus who are dependent, possibly on a frequent basis, on biological materials that will be wiped out? There’s no time to develop countermeasures but doesn’t that mean that there’s no time to save such subjects? Subjects that could be both volunteers and non-volunteers?”

Everyone else’s eyes turn to Kara who is still looking at Lena, but Casey is the one who answers, “I oversee risk management and scenario analysis. I’ve run hundreds of scenarios around this undertaking. We know that crippling Cadmus’ capabilities in this area would be a major blow. But hitting any facilities directly with agents to eliminate this threat, assuming we could discover where those facilities are, will have casualties and Cadmus scientists could salvage viable samples. In this scenario, there’s nothing Cadmus can run with to use later, and there’s no DEO agents being put in the line of fire. And no data are available on the presence of subjects with time-sensitive needs, so they weren’t included; we don’t know of any such subjects.”

“Data aren’t available to support exclusion either," Kara retorts heatedly. "And if they exist, they could die. We know Cadmus has forcibly taken people and we know even people that walked through their doors willingly may no longer be there by choice."

Kara hears Lena inhale as if to answer, but J’onn enters the conversation, heading off debate, “We should work with information we can verify.” 

He looks to Jensen, who has been taking notes and has a thoughtful expression. The strategic operations lead states his opinion “I think we should talk further here. It’s an intriguing opportunity.”

J’onn looks back to Lena. “I agree. Let’s discuss specifics and how we could cooperate.”

Lena nods but there’s no satisfaction evident in her expression.

Kara looks around in disbelief. The verbal dismissal of her fears about both humans and aliens held at Cadmus stings. She pushes her chair out from the table and exits the room without a backward glance. No voices or steps follow.

She finds herself in the dim lower hallways near the training room and stops with her back against the wall, breathing quickly from the exchanges. She chides herself for thinking about listening in on the ongoing conversation; if she wants to be a part of it she should return.

A few minutes pass, and Kara hears familiar footsteps. Alex rounds a corner, her expression a mixture of exasperation and concern. But as soon as she sees Kara, Kara can see the exasperation slip away leaving her sister standing with her hands at her side, waiting.

Under Alex’s concerned look, Kara sinks to the ground. Confusion, disappointment, and frustration are eating at her.

“You're going to tell me I didn't handle that well," Kara starts. "But I’m struggling with both how Lena’s here and why she’s here. I’m happy to see her, but last we talked, she wasn’t interested in joining forces with the DEO so what has changed. And then dealing with,” Kara gestures towards the general vicinity of the conference room, “that.”

Alex crouches down across the narrow hallway from her, bringing them level.

“I didn't come here to lecture you. And as to why Lena came to the DEO, I think it’s what she said – we have resources to help them. Also, we’re known to her. That familiarity and our abilities could outweigh any issues she has with us.

“As for how, the security hack happened almost two weeks ago. There were probably additional communications because Lena must have convinced J’onn of the validity of her group and the importance of the action they were proposing. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have allowed this meeting. He had our report from the last time we interacted with her but that was months ago and I don’t think he would have agreed just based on that.”

Kara knows it’s not just the dismissal that’s bothering her, but also the fact she wasn’t told about this. “Why didn’t you tell me this was happening?” she asks.

“Like I said, I found out today.”

“You didn’t know before?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Alex looks away and puffs her cheeks out before blowing out an exaggerated breath and answering, “Because I asked several months ago not to be told about matters involving Lena Luthor or her team unless there were related emergent issues. And J’onn said he would honor that request when he could.”

A crinkle appears between Kara’s eyebrows, “Why did you ask for that?”

Alex turns back to Kara with a fierceness about her, “Because I didn’t want to mislead you. I don’t completely understand what is between you and Lena, and you’ve made it clear over the past months that you’re not going to say much. Regardless, she’s important to you, and I knew that if I was told about any DEO interactions with or intelligence on her and didn’t tell you it would hurt. If they absolutely need me on something related to that group, I’m in, but otherwise there are other agents who can work on it.”

“Thank you, for doing that for me,” Kara says.

“I’m on your side, Kara.” Alex leans forward from her crouching position and grips Kara’s hand as she says it, and then uses that anchor point to stand up. “And, somewhat unexpectedly, I’m here to support your concerns. I think the two of us can get them to consider your points. So, let’s get back and see what’s going on.” 

She proceeds to grab Kara’s hand with her other hand as well, pulling on her sister. “You’re so heavy. Help me out here.”

“Shut up.” Kara tries to return the lightly teasing tone Alex used but knows she falls short.

Her first inclination is to stubbornly wait out the meeting, but then she shakes off Alex’s hands and rocks forward to push up and stand. As she does so, an ache she’s been carrying for months breaks from her and she’s back leaning against the wall. “I’ve missed her.”

“Yeah, that's apparent.”

Kara’s hands form loose fists as they rest on her thighs. “And now, she’s here with this plan, and I don’t agree. I can’t just stand by if people will die, people who aren’t even responsible for this. I need to get her to change it.”

“Like I said, you’ve made a point to consider, Kara, so you need to get back in the conversation, even if J’onn is focused on a nice, clean scenario. Everyone in there knows that nice, clean scenarios are seldom reality. But we should get the full story, which we’re missing right now.”

“Okay.”

Kara looks up and finds Alex with head tilted scrutinizing her. “You really don’t see it, do you?”

“See what?”

“I know there are flaws, but I think ultimately Lena’s trying to protect as many people on our side as she can with this approach. Because she wants to take down Cadmus and she wants to help and she’s seen us get our butts kicked and lose people.

“But also, and there’s a bit of irony here given your response, I think she’s doing this for you. Did you notice the data on Supergirl? They didn’t really need those and yet they have them, every fight you’ve been in for the past 18 months. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had boots on the ground or their own remote surveillance. I would bet good money that Lena has seen every report, that she’s watched every time you’ve gotten hurt, that she knows every type of alien, alteration, or enhancement that has injured you. She and her team are trying to damage a major facet of Cadmus that the DEO wouldn’t necessarily target. But I doubt it’s a coincidence that it’s a part of Cadmus that directly impacts your safety. She’s trying to protect you.”

Kara’s thumb and index finger are massaging her brow, eyes closed as Alex finished. Kara wants to rage at how this fight has left the participants scrabbling and uncertain on where things stand, but she knows this isn’t the time.

She looks up at Alex, “I don’t know what to say to that.”

Alex’s gaze is steady but teasing is back in her voice, “You never like it when people try to protect you.”

“Don’t start.” Kara’s eyes shift to look past Alex’s shoulder as she pauses and then continues, a slight quaver in her voice. “I’m not saying I agree with you.” 

She pauses again and sighs, not actually sure what to say. “Just, do a couple of laps with me down here while I get my head on straight and then we can go up?”

“Of course.”

When they’ve finished, Kara feels grounded again. They make their way back and find J’onn near the top of the staircase. Kara glances around him, searching, but the meeting seems to have broken up; Winn and Vasquez are each back at their stations and Jensen isn’t in sight. 

Then Kara sees the small, folded piece of paper in J’onn’s hand and unconsciously pulls back.

J’onn stretches out his hand with the note, “Ms. Luthor and Ms. Kateb were on a tight schedule. Ms. Luthor asked me to give this to you.”

Kara doesn’t want to take it, to validate the reality that Lena is gone again, and all they did in much of their short time together was disagree. But she admonishes herself for her lack of courage and reaches out.

She steps away and unfolds the small slip. After reading Lena’s words - ‘I heard you at the meeting. It was good to see you.’ - Kara closes her eyes for a moment. She wants to go after Lena, but she has respected her space thus far.

The loss tugs at her insides, but she dismisses it, opens her eyes, and steps back to Alex and J’onn. Alex is asking about the final outcome, glancing over to check on Kara. 

J’onn’s answer is succinct, “We’ve agreed to work with them. They’ll be in touch within the next month.”

Kara's demanding tone is politely demanding, “I’d like to know when you're talking to them.”

J’onn looks to Alex to intercede, but the look Alex levels back at him makes it clear she is on her little sister’s side on this one.

His jaw tightens but he gives Kara a curt nod, “As long as you understand that we are conditionally moving this operation forward. And you only communicate on it if you are authorized to.”

“Of course,” Kara answers.

J’onn gives her a lingering look with an arch to an eyebrow, as if he’s not totally convinced, but then turns and heads to his office. 

Alex places a hand on Kara’s shoulder. Kara carefully removes it and takes a step away. 

“I’ll be back sometime tonight.”

Kara is out of the facility immediately, intent on making as many circuits of the planet as it will take to soothe her uneasy self on what started as a beautiful day. Lena’s appearance had at first relaxed a tightness in her that she had willfully ignored, but now, with her departure and this plan on top of that, it’s back. Kara wonders when it will loosen again.


	2. T-1 day

Kara finds herself showered and sitting in J'onn's office where she's been summoned with Alex late on Sunday night. They've spent an almost non-stop weekend chasing down alien weapons caches that Winn had worked to pinpoint.

Kara had taken a few hits from the alien tech while shielding agents in the raids. Nothing that an hour on the sunbed didn't help, but she would like the mission debriefings to finish so she can find her bed and crawl into it before Monday morning and her day job catch up to her. Alex has her eyes on a pen she's fiddling with, her expression suggesting she's having similar thoughts.

J'onn breezes in looking fresh, as if he hasn't been up for much of the past 72 hours, which he definitely has. Kara, deciding not to sulk over still being here when J'onn is putting in even longer hours, sits up and asks in what she hopes is an upbeat voice, "Alex and I both filed our reports and gave our statements. How else can we help?" 

Alex looks up, also interested in what they need to do to be released.

J'onn lifts an eyebrow at the forced nature of Kara's tone as he closes the door and lands in his chair. 

"You two are clocked out on the weapons caches; we have everything we need. But, I thought you'd be interested to know that we're moving on assisting Lena Luthor and her group with targeting Cadmus' bioengineering facility. They'll be here in two days coordinating with us on a modified plan."

Kara sits stunned by this unexpected news. 

It's been over two months since Lena had visited the DEO. Kara had received the updates she had requested about ongoing interactions with Lena's group, but they gave her little information on operation specifics or on Lena herself. 

Meanwhile, Jess had served as a point of contact for Kara only once during that time, relaying that Lena was in Seoul. Other than that, there had been a cryptic text from an unknown number Kara received in the early morning hours two weeks ago reading _Almost there. See you soon._ Kara believed it was from Lena but hadn't known what to make of it at the time.

Now that _See you soon._ could have a concrete timeframe associated with it. A swirling that includes hope, trepidation, and pure nerves rises in her stomach.

Alex leans forward, intrigued. "Do you know who's coming here, what's changed?

"We know Ms. Luthor will be here with one or two others," J'onn answers. "As you know, we encouraged the FDA to turn an eye to the competitor company she identified last visit, so the company infiltrated by her team's sleeper agents is working with Cadmus. It seems the distribution of the contaminated cell lines to Cadmus will be happening soon. They've told us the modifications to their plan shouldn't affect most of our arrangements, and Ms. Luthor and her people will be staying here to smooth out any bumps as the operation unfolds."

Alex sits back, nodding and throwing a glance at Kara, who's finding speech difficult after this news.

Kara thinks she must look as blindsided as she feels because Alex is rising out of her chair and moving to nudge Kara out of hers. As Alex does so, she tells J'onn, "Thanks for the information. If we're done here, I think the two of us would like to go home."

Alex's touch breaks Kara out of her state enough for her to rise and follow her sister out of the room as J'onn indicates they can head out. 

Walking out of the DEO, Alex keeps a hand lightly gripping her wrist. "You're coming home with me tonight. Just the two of us. We're going to eat and sleep and then deal with anything that needs to be dealt with tomorrow."

Kara slows as they hit the sidewalk outside. "You don't have to do that, Alex."

Alex turns her head to look at her but doesn't let Kara stop their progress to the car. "You're starving and you're tired and you just got unexpected news about your undercover friend. Just come with me." Her voice takes on a sing-song quality. "I'll buy you donuts in the morning."

Kara can't help but appreciate and agree to the gesture. A small smile breaks out as she opens the car door. "Okay. And the container of Dark Chocolate Brownie hidden in your freezer is mine."

\---

Tuesday at CatCo Kara is all contained energy. A text from Alex summoning her to the DEO arrives as she finishes editing a piece on recent meetings among human and alien religious leaders for the upcoming issue. By the time she sends the article off and makes her way outside, the containment is slipping. 

Alex is waiting for her and, seeing Kara's face upon landing, her hands go immediately to shoulders, light pressure and small circles attempting to calm her little sister.

"I'm fine," Kara tells her, but she doesn't shrug off the contact.

"Uh huh," Alex sounds less than convinced. "You're close to physically vibrating with pent up fineness."

She squeezes Kara's arms as she runs her hands down them, then pushes on one arm just enough to direct the two of them to the left. 

"You just made it. They started about a minute ago. Like we talked about, we'll see what the modifications to their plan are, and I'll support you if your issue still exists." 

"Thank you." Kara glances over at her. "Who's here? Besides Lena?"

Alex gestures to the room they're approaching. "Lena and Teo Mendoza, her cybersecurity lead. She's here to serve as the liaison between the DEO and her team and he's coordinating security across the two groups to keep this operation under deep cover. Sounds like they plan to stay with us for the next seven to ten days, depending on time to completion."

They enter the room quietly, but it's a small space. All eyes turn to them and talking halts. Agents Jensen and Vasquez are present, given the strategic aspects of the briefing, and the DEO's expert on alien physiology, Dr. Koo, is sitting next to J'onn.

"Sorry we're late," Alex offers as they slide into chairs between J'onn and Vasquez.

Kara reaches out her hand and greets the only unfamiliar face, a man in his 30s with wavy, dark brown hair and friendly brown eyes sitting directly across from her, "Hi, I'm Supergirl. You must be Teo."

Teo extends his hand with a smile and shakes hers. "I am. Nice to meet you."

As Kara draws back, she turns and addresses the woman next to him, "Hello, Lena. It's good to see you again."

Kara notices that Lena looks exhausted under the professional demeanor, but she returns Kara's smile warmly. "Hello, Supergirl."

Greetings completed, J'onn returns to the topic at hand. "Ms. Luthor was just confirming that the tissue lines are going out to Cadmus tomorrow, so the operation is on. The DEO will still support the tracking of that material. She was about to fill us in on changes."

Lena looks around the table as she shifts slightly forward. "Given certain feedback from our last meeting," her eyes pause briefly on Kara, "we've modified the contaminant so there's a short delay in the infection and destruction of biological materials at the Cadmus facility. We needed to keep the window relatively small still to avoid countermeasures being identified and deployed. But the modification could allow for alternative actions for test subjects that would otherwise be immediately affected."

As she pauses, J'onn voices skepticism. "If Cadmus were interested in saving them."

"True," Lena acknowledges. "We have little control over the situation within the facility. But, because we know its vicinity, we've established a clandestine treatment center in that area that caters to, shall we say, a select demographic, manned with expert exobiologists and medical staff as well as trained security, all operating under very detailed covers as concerned, local medical personnel. It's been open for the past month serving that community and its existence has been leaked around so Cadmus personnel will have heard of it. It's an available resource if Cadmus can't or won't treat people and affected individuals can get there."

J'onn and Dr. Koo look impressed. "That must have taken a significant effort," Dr. Koo comments.

"It did," Lena replies. "But we think it will be worth it if it's needed, both for humanitarian reasons and to expose some of Cadmus' practices to the public or potential recruits."

Processing what these alterations mean, Kara recognizes that Lena had listened. This approach, with the shift in strategy, is much more palatable, but she's compelled to point out, "We may still lose people."

Alex, who had been looking quite interested, turns to her. "Supergirl, that's just…"

Kara cuts her off with a side-eye and firm tone, "Don't say collateral damage."

"I wasn't going to."

Lena interrupts them to concede the point, "It's still possible. But there's a chance now for affected individuals to get medical attention if needed - some of us believe Cadmus' medical staff may help. We could still not be able to adequately treat those affected, but this way we try. Also, we've significantly reduced the window for going from activated to aerosol, narrowing the timeframe for possible intervention so the medical teams can better prepare."

Kara looks at Lena, who holds her gaze. She knows the other woman has made serious concessions and likely worked even harder than usual to find and implement alternative solutions because of their previous argument. The new plan isn't perfect but going up against Cadmus often involves complicated ethical calls. And with this approach, they are trying to minimize those. She makes a decision, gives Lena a nod, and places arms and hands flat on the table in front of her.

"I can patrol and assist with transporting anyone trying to leave. I can even detect and extract people. That keeps DEO agents out of the line of fire."

Agent Jensen jumps in as Kara finishes, "Except for any needed follow-up post-operation, we were primarily going to provide tracking to Cadmus. But we can put a team in the field to support Supergirl, if that's authorized. No engagement, with the exception of emergencies."

Kara sends a grateful smile his way.

Agent Vasquez directs a question to Jensen, "What about other sites? A goal was to limit DEO involvement."

"Another part of the plan has changed," Teo interjects. "From communications with our people on the inside, we know there's one other facility involved. Shipments are going out to both at the same time. We want to coordinate with a DEO team on a second route to find that location. An option would then be to move medical resources from the first alien treatment center to assist with anyone from the second Cadmus facility. We have people on standby to make that move."

Lena adds, "And, in terms of assistance and extraction, I could cover the second facility in the warsuit. The timing for a biological meltdown at both places is likely to be very close. Whether you want to provide me with backup is up to you."

Though everyone but Dr. Koo has been in briefings where the warsuit has come up, all look startled that its owner has mentioned it. Teo looks like he's going to protest. Lena stops him before a word is spoken. "It's worth it for this operation, and the suit can't remain a secret forever.

But the thought of Lena putting herself in danger has Kara instinctively reacting and siding with him, "No. You can't do that." 

Lena shifts back to Kara, her tone cool, "That's not really your decision, Supergirl. The last time I was here, it was implied that I was issuing death sentences. So, I shouldn't be prevented from keeping that outcome from happening."

Before Kara can snap back, Alex's hand is on her arm as she assures, "Point taken. Your assistance at the second site would be helpful."

Kara turns to Alex with a palm up in a 'what the hell' gesture. The response is a shake of the head as Alex continues to look at Lena. Kara reluctantly remains quiet, and when there are no further objections or comments the matter seems settled. 

"We have options for this operation, but we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves," J'onn says, pulling the group back to the here and now. "We'll have time to define a final plan of action after we insure the shipments are tracked to Cadmus. And Ms. Luthor and Mr. Mendoza can help us with it as they're here for the duration."

He turns to Lena and Teo. "Agents Jensen and Vasquez have some logistics to coordinate with you for tomorrow."

Lena and Teo both rise to join the DEO agents who are already on their feet at J'onn's words. Kara relaxes slightly when Lena looks back at her before she follows Vasquez out.

Kara addresses Alex as J'onn and Dr. Koo exit, "What was that?"

Alex calmly explains, "That was me agreeing with Lena. She's causing risk to people and she wants to be able to help out. She has the warsuit, so why not? Sometimes I jump into situations with my favorite gun and not much else; she's over-prepared by those standards."

"You're a trained agent, Alex. And, honestly, you know no one actually likes it when you do that."

"But you accept it. And you need to do the same with Lena. She's saved your butt before and is obviously capable with that suit. Look, we have an operation that could seriously hurt Cadmus and it now addresses concerns about test subjects. Let's work with that. The chance she actually uses the suit is minimal."

Alex looks Kara in the eye. "Maybe not my business, but here's my advice - don't argue with her about this. I know you want to protect her - and she seems equally determined to protect you - but arguing this will negatively affect any chance you have to actually talk to each other while she's here. Come to terms with it and move on."

Kara's eyes fall away from Alex as she grapples with the reality that Lena will likely disappear again after this is over. She doesn't want to spend the week at odds with her over what, as Alex has noted, is a hypothetical. She has other conflicted topics she would rather talk about.

"You're right. There are more important things to do." Her phone buzzes with an incoming text and she pulls it out. "It's James. I need to get back to CatCo for an ad hoc content meeting. I'll stop back by tonight?"

"Not for me - I'm heading out at a reasonable hour today. Tomorrow is going to be a long one." Alex's lips twitch upward. "But I'm sure if you come back someone would be happy to see you."

\---

Kara remains in superhero garb when she returns that night. Given Teo's status regarding Supergirl's identity, she's going to be spending extended time in the suit over the next week.

After a check-in with Vasquez, who's huddled over a checklist with Jensen, and a casual question about where the visitors are housed, she makes her way to Lena's quarters.

She debated this visit on the flight over but decided she couldn't pass up an opportunity to see Lena. It's been over nine months since they last spent any real time together. And given the time they spent together and how they parted, there's been a running debate in her head over whether she and Lena could be something more than what they were.

Because Kara had discovered that she wanted them to be; absence was a strong catalyst to the sort of soul-searching and truth-finding needed for her to acknowledge her feelings. Of course, the question also needed Lena to weigh in on it, and quite unexpectedly, she was now available to do so if Kara could find the right way to introduce the topic.

Reaching the door, she does a quick audio check to confirm Lena is alone. Her knock is soft, eliciting a faint "Who is it?" from the room.

"It's Kara." Alex likely had something to do with the room assignments given the visitors' rooms are sufficiently separated to allow Kara to speak without chance of anyone casually overhearing.

The door opens to Lena in a neutral henley, grey hoodie, black sweatpants and slippers with her hair down around her shoulders, smiling up at her. "Hi."

"Hi," Kara breathes, an answering grin on her face, and without thought she is stepping toward Lena at the same time her hand has been grabbed and she's being pulled forward. They engulf each other in a strong hug.

Kara nuzzles into Lena's hair, comforted by the light scent of rosewater. She can feel her heartrate lowering and hears Lena's doing the same. Finally, she tightens her hold just enough and whispers, "I missed you."

The side of Lena's head is against Kara's shoulder and Kara can feel her burrow in. "I missed you too," comes the reply. "It's really good to see you." 

When they part, Kara is blinking rapidly, and Lena surreptitiously wipes under one eye. 

When her eyes are clear again, Kara looks back up. "Have you eaten yet? Did you experience the wonders of the DEO commissary?"

It hits Kara then how much she has missed Lena's laugh.

"You always cut to the chase on food. Yes, they brought me a lovely salad. We wrapped most preparations 30 minutes ago. I think Vasquez and Jensen just had to outfit the second DEO tracking team and Winn and Teo are bonding over encryption."

Kara bounces on her feet, random energy running through her again now that they aren't touching, but she manages to keep her feet on the ground. "Are you up for one more thing? There's a place I'd like to show you, if you're up for it. I thought maybe we could talk? I know where Alex's stash of homemade cookies is. You know, because we never got dessert last time."

Lena's hand goes to her arm, softly squeezing and releasing it before replying, "I'd love to. I have a little time before the unofficial curfew your director suggested."

Kara, relaxed again from Lena's touch, disengages. She leads them first to Alex's hidden snacks and then to a low-lit observation platform several corridors over. It has a number of official purposes but also several pieces of furniture that agents have piled around the edges for casual use.

Kara drags a couple of large, cushy chairs out to where the view includes the stars blinking brightly over the darkened desert landscape. She hands Lena two chocolate chunk cookies off her stack before collapsing in a chair and watching Lena sit cross-legged in hers.

Once they've made some progress into the sweets while stargazing, Kara glances over at Lena before turning her eyes to the space in front of her.

"Thank you. For making changes to your plan, for putting in contingencies that could save people. I know doing that meant a huge commitment of time and resources. And I'm sorry about disagreeing about the warsuit. You're right - how you contribute to your own operation is not up to me."

"Kara, I value your opinion,' Lena tells her. "We may not always agree but that doesn't mean I won't consider what you say. And your position had merit, so we looked at it. As for my proposed involvement, one of your core motivations is to protect. I would've been surprised if you had said nothing, though your passion took me a little off-guard. I appreciate that you see my perspective now."

Kara turns and catches Lena looking her way. "Well, Alex reminded me that you're more than capable. And that I probably didn't want to spend this next week arguing about something I'm wrong about." She quickly grins at the last to remove any sting from it. "I'd rather we be talking. After all, a week isn't much time."

At Kara's words Lena's expression turns thoughtful and she licks her lips. "Yes, though I remember we said a lot during those few days we had." 

Kara nods. "We did."

They break eye contact and Kara takes the opening to pursue a different subject. "So, the past ten months - what's been happening in those exotic locations I heard about from Jess?"

That draws a laugh. "Right, Gotham for example, very exotic."

They settle into comfortable conversation then, Lena detailing a memorable event or two in her undercover life and Kara providing updates on her forays into hard-hitting journalism.

Time passes easily until Lena is glancing at her phone and rising from her chair. "It's getting late. I should get some sleep."

Kara gets up, brushing away crumbs, and follows. Lena insists she's a good navigator and does an admirable job of finding her way back to her room through the labyrinth of the DEO.

They stop at her door and Lena asks, "Are you here tomorrow?"

"I'm on-call. Tense waiting when there isn't much that can be done isn't really my forte. I make Alex crazy when I'm in those situations and, if I pace, J'onn starts to worry about his floors. But if I'm not called in, I'll stop by in the evening."

"Okay. See you tomorrow then."

The hug between them in the doorway is again simultaneous, but briefer.

"It's going to go well tomorrow," Kara declares as they separate. "I'm focusing all my positive energy on it. Now that you know that, you can sleep easy." 

Lena brightens at Kara's words. "You're right, I can. Good night, Kara."

"Good night."

Kara turns away as the door shuts. She's concerned about the operation tomorrow but the swirl of feelings that has dogged her for the last two days has calmed and she's hopeful.


	3. Operation On (Days 0-7)

Kara doesn’t get called in, which is a positive sign. While her stress level was high when she woke, it decreases as the afternoon wears on.

She leaves CatCo and lands at the DEO, first huddling with Alex and J’onn around the tactical room table for an update. Transport went smoothly except for a nervous 30 minutes where they thought they lost a vehicle. But Teo, Winn, and the field agents sleuthed out its likely path, and, scrambling, picked up the signal again.

They know the location of both facilities. The operation stands officially at Day 0, the countdown begun. The primary site is two cities over, as anticipated, and the two sites are within 100 miles of each other, simplifying logistics.

Winn and Teo are trying to break into internal Cadmus communications, which J’onn is allowing them to do.

The update ended, Alex leads Kara over to a monitor to show her the facilities’ map. Kara memorizes the birds-eye view for future reference even as her eyes also are scanning the agents and workstations around them. But she’s not seeing a familiar form.

“She’s with Teo,” Alex’s voice pulls her back. “They went to check in with their group.”

Kara tries to hide her disappointment. She doesn’t know how to interact with the concept or the reality of this team that Lena’s assembled and is almost totally unknown to her, and she doesn’t want to interrupt. At the same time, she was looking forward to seeing her.

“They’ll be back,” Alex continues in response to Kara’s expression.

She displays exterior photos of the buildings and one of the interior blueprints the DEO tracked down. “Do you want to see if you can fill in more details, if the usual Cadmus countermeasures aren’t present? And if you can do it without being noticed.”

Kara throws her sister a mock offended look before she is out into the night air, happy for the distraction.

Returning from passes of both locations, she complains about her lack of success, “I wish Cadmus didn’t integrate lead into their buildings.”

“Our usual luck. We’ll have to get specs the old-fashioned way then.” Alex shrugs, unperturbed as she closes down various files.

“Old-fashioned sucks,” Kara says, mentally stomping a foot.

“What sucks?”

Kara looks over at the question to find Lena walking up to them, dressed in technical gear with hair pulled back into a ponytail. She’s sure she unconsciously broke into a huge grin at the sight and is grateful when Alex draws Lena’s attention.

“Everyone clear?” Alex asks, overlooking Lena’s question.

“Yes. So far so good, thanks,” Lena responds, and Kara notices her relieved tone.

“Good,” Alex says as she puts the monitor to sleep. “It’s getting late. I need to finalize the reports by the tracking teams and clear out of here. Have a good night.”

Both watch her head down the stairs before Kara looks back to Lena. “Who needed to get clear?”

Lena leans against the desk and Kara slides back to sit on it, leaving space between the two of them.

Lena’s tapping on the surface with three fingers, looking back and forth between the restless movement and Kara. “We still had an agent at the production site to get out. I’ve spent most of the evening insuring that happened.”

“I thought you had multiple people there.”

“We did, and we’ve withdrawn them over the past weeks. Couldn’t have them all disappear at once. We have unique, verifiable cover stories for each to avoid suspicion.”

She closes and rubs her eyes briefly, and Kara again sees the exhaustion and responsibility weighing on the other woman; she feels a tightness in her chest, a desire to alleviate the burdens Lena carries. 

Lena sighs and looks up with a tired smile. “In some ways, it’s been the most stressful part of this whole thing,” she tells Kara, “having them at risk every day, so it’s a relief that part is winding down.”

"You’ve always been invested in taking care of people,” Kara says, hoping her belief in Lena comes through in her words.

“I’ve tried. But it’s a whole different level when you explicitly ask someone to put themselves in danger as part of an undercover effort. Cadmus would have eliminated them if they were found,” Lena says quietly. She looks away then back, her fingers still tapping.

Seeing her friend like this, restless and exhausted, Kara prods carefully, “What is it? You can tell me. If you want to.” 

Lena's eyes flit around the area again. “It’s just, this life I’ve been leading, it sometimes makes running a multi-billion-dollar company feel like child’s play. It’s been tiring, nerve-wracking, frustrating, and also, thrilling and rewarding, which - it somehow just seems inappropriate when I feel those last two. Everything ultimately has such high stakes and the risks to people...,” Lena trails off, her eyes back on her hand, but Kara remains quiet, sensing more to come.

Her patience pays off as Lena goes on, “This next week is a key test of whether we can seriously damage Cadmus with minimal losses. When I left that safe house, left you there months ago, I didn’t realize how big this would get. We started with financial and technological disruptions, and we had success with those, but it’s unclear if they make a big enough impact. But this, the time and effort are worth it if we can significantly impact Cadmus’ capabilities in bioengineering.”

Kara doesn’t miss Lena’s reference to her. She wants to ask about what that meant to Lena, when she left, but she puts it aside. Instead, she reaches out and covers Lena’s fidgeting hand, making slow passes over the knuckles with her thumb and drawing Lena’s eyes up. 

“It’s going to work, what you’ve put together. All of us are in. And I will keep saying it - you don’t have to carry Cadmus on your shoulders. You aren’t responsible for them.”

She holds up her other hand in time to stop Lena’s protest. 

“You’re not. Please remember that. I can see what that thought is doing to you, how it’s draining you.”

Lena blinks rapidly, surprise at the blunt assessment evident. Her lips twitch up, but there’s a hint of pride in her voice, “Really?”

Kara shakes her head. “I’m not trying to be rude, but I noticed when I first saw you. It’s obvious that you’ve been pushing yourself so hard. You have others helping your team now. We can take on some of the work and worry. Let us,” Kara says. She motions to herself. “Let me. I want to help you.”

Lena’s expression softens at Kara’s words as she ducks her head. “You’re right," she says. "I should do a better job of taking advantage of the people and the resources here. Thank you.”

“Anytime,” Kara assures her.

Kara would like to detail all of the ways she would help to take the pressure off, but Lena straightens, slipping her hand out from Kara’s and over to cover and squeeze it before letting go as her demeanor shifts seamlessly to all business.

“Actually, I’m here to find that help you’re encouraging me to tap into. I need to consult with the Director on moving our final undercover agent; he may be able to expedite things for us.”

“Oh.” Kara slides off the desk to the floor. “He’s probably still in his office. Do you know where that is?”

“Yes. I should head there before he calls it a night.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Kara,” Lena says, her business-like exterior momentarily slipping to show concern, “I realize you have obligations at the DEO, but I hope you aren't lingering here for me.”

Kara would be planning to spend more hours at the DEO if she wasn’t worried about her presence, well-intentioned as it is, somehow pressuring Lena. But again, she doesn’t want to push on the timing of such confessions. Soon though, if she’s going to do it.

“I just like to check in with you,” Kara tells her instead, “if that’s okay?”

“Of course. I just don’t want you to feel obligated.”

“I don’t.”

Lena looks like she is about to speak, but Agent Vasquez walks up, stopping just short as Kara turns to her. 

“Sorry to interrupt,” the agent interjects. “Supergirl, can I get a quick word with you about what you observed when Agent Danvers sent you out earlier?”

“Certainly.” Kara glances over to see Lena heading towards J’onn’s office. “What exactly do you need?”

\---

The commissary is loud for the late hour when Kara walks into it the next day. Following familiar voices, she finds them gathered at a corner table. Alex, Winn, Teo, Vasquez, and Lena, still in work apparel, have beer bottles in hand or in front of them and are casually socializing as Kara makes her way over.

“Supergirl!” Winn’s excited voice rings out. “You made it just in time for darts. And now we can have three teams.”

Teo, Vasquez, and Lena tip bottles or nod in greeting while Alex responds to Winn, “Don’t count me in for your after-hours activities. I have a life outside this place.”

“Spoilsport!” His pursed lips and disapproving eyebrows make Kara chuckle.

“Don’t worry, Schott,” Vasquez cuts in. “She would have just dragged someone down. I can take on any of you, individual or teams, by myself.”

Alex knocks back her chair at that, sending a “See, not needed!” at her DEO colleague, before walking over to Kara. 

She leans in to whisper, “He’s ahead of the rest of us in case you couldn’t tell. He claims the attempted infiltration of Cadmus communications is hurting his brain and he needs to give it a break.”

“I’ll keep an eye on him around sharp objects. Are you really leaving?”

“Yeah, I have to grab the chances I get. Healthy balance and all.”

“Alright. We’ll catch up later,” Kara says giving Alex’s arm a small squeeze, aware of Teo in the room.

Alex waves goodbye and Winn rousts everyone from the table. They follow him to a second-floor lounge with a couple of couches, a foosball table, and a bristle dartboard.

Over the course of the next hour and a half, Vasquez lives up to her claim, with Teo providing the only real competition. Kara recuses herself; she can’t really play fairly given the superior eyesight and muscle control resulting in optimal targeting, but she joins in the jokes and good-natured trash-talking, replenishes drinks, and strategically offers snacks and glasses of water. She snaps a couple photos and sends them to Alex, letting her know that Winn is the only one chasing a hangover but at least he’s slowed down.

It feels good; it almost feels normal. The atmosphere is light, and she can’t help but notice the ease in Lena; occasionally the two make eye contact or exchange smiles over a ridiculous story, and it takes her back to earlier times.

After Vasquez’s final victory, complete with champion strut, Kara puts an arm around Winn. “Do you need a lift to the nearest cot?”

“No, I’ll be fine,” he slurs though it’s less pronounced now. “But walk me down to the barracks?”

“Sure,” Kara replies as she keeps an arm around him, guiding him out. 

“I’ll be back to help,” she directs at the rest of the room’s occupants.

After getting Winn situated, her path back takes her by Teo at his door. 

He waves in greeting and informs her, “Everything’s cleaned up.” The look he’s giving her suggests cautious appraisal, but his smile is genuine. “It was good hanging with you tonight, Supergirl. Maybe we can all do it again sometime.”

Kara slows but doesn’t stop as she moves by him and promises, “It’s going to be a crazy week but if we all have the chance, I’m in.” She watches him disappear into his room and wonders if anyone else is roaming the hallways.

Footsteps heading towards Lena’s room answer her, and she speeds up. She rounds the corner as Lena reaches her door.

“Hi.”

“Hi,” Lena returns, looking from the door to Kara. “Do you have time to come in?” 

She motions towards the open frame. Kara is grateful for the low lighting when her face flushes. Kara nods and Lena enters the room, collapsing into the pillows sitting against the bed’s headboard before pulling her boots off and her hair out of its bun. Kara drops into a cushy chair against the opposite wall. Lena motions at her feet telling her to make herself comfortable, so she takes off her cape and boots and folds her legs under her.

“How’d things go today?” Kara asks, curious to know how the two visitors are occupying their time. Well, one visitor in particular.

“Good. We started an exposure study yesterday to parallel what should be happening at Cadmus, so I reviewed that. And finished details for deploying medical personnel around the second site. Long, but productive. You?”

“Untangled a multi-vehicle pile-up, revised a piece on human and alien religious leaders, and developed and pitched a new story idea. Pretty standard.”

Lena’s expression briefly turns nostalgic. “Nice, normal day,” she hums, shifting against the pillows. 

Then she looks back to Kara and declares, “I know I may not have seemed welcoming when we talked yesterday, but I wasn’t trying to put you off. I’m glad you came by.”

“Me too. Winn got a little wild, but he does that sometimes. And now you have the inside scoop on who to bet on in the DEO darts tournament. Also, I don’t really know anything about your team, so it was good to spend some time with Teo. He seems much friendlier than Casey.”

Lena laughs. “I can understand you feeling that way.”

Kara swallows; this could be a chance to talk about their relationship if she wants to start that – and she does want to.

She takes a breath to steel herself, keeping her eyes on Lena even as they try to move around the room, and attempts a mixture of interested and casual she’s unlikely to achieve. She leads with a fear she’s been harboring that could alter the entire conversation she wants to have, “Yeah. I wondered about you and Casey. She certainly seemed to be trying to send me a message when we met.”

The admission has Lena shifting so her legs hang over the side of the bed and she’s squarely facing Kara. She has an odd look on her face that ramps up Kara’s insecurity. 

Lena finally responds, leaning toward her, “There isn't anything but friendship between us. My colleagues can give off a very protective vibe. Casey can be extreme, and Teo too sometimes, possibly because I’ve known them the longest. Casey came up through Luthor Corp, and Teo was a cyber guru at one of our subsidiaries. I’ve worked with both of them and recruited them into this because I knew their skills and characters.

“The truth is I entered into a sort of downward spiral not long after I ‘went dark’, as Alex called it. I thought I could cut out parts of my life with surgical precision, removing them cleanly. And that worked, for a lot of things. But certain connections needed more. I didn’t give them attention and it caught up to me.

“It took a while to get back to myself. Teo and Casey were key, and the whole team was supportive. I think they still worry about me. I’m not involved though.”

A little embarrassment over her suspicion mixes with a lot of guilt in Kara at Lena’s disclosure. “And Supergirl was the person you were with right before you had to go,” Kara says, keeping her head up, “the one who forced you into that position. Casey’s attitude makes sense.”

Lena shakes her head at Kara's synopsis and argues, “I chose to get involved in the raid that night, Kara. You’re not to blame. I’ve always been clear with people about that. The team’s plan required me to put space between myself and L Corp and parts of my life associated with it and National City. The timeline was simply accelerated because of my interference. Though it wasn’t easy to leave like that.”

The physical space between them feels wrong, and Kara moves to sit next to Lena. She carefully places an arm around her, ready to pull back at any sign of reluctance but none appear. Instead, Lena leans into her and she rests her chin on the top of dark hair.

“It wasn’t easy to see you go,” Kara confesses. “And, having you gone hasn’t gotten easier with time.” 

She fumbles with her next words before finally getting them out, “It’s taken me a while to figure it out, to clearly see all of the ways you gave me support and respect and unwavering belief and didn’t demand anything in return. Those were important to me and I didn’t fully recognize that. With you gone, it made me realize how important you are to me.”

Lena’s arms have wrapped around Kara and she pulls them more tightly together. Her voice is barely audible as she answers, “I really thought we wouldn’t see each other again, probably wouldn’t talk to each other again, until this ordeal was over. Working with the DEO was never part of the original strategy, so I saw zero opportunity when I left. My priority had to be stopping my mother, taking down Cadmus.

“But it turned out you were someone I couldn’t cleanly cut away. And that’s why I reached out to you through Jess. Those little contacts, hearing back from Jess that you wanted them too, helped me.”

“I wanted to get word back to you.”

“I know. But that would have been complicated and dangerous. And we didn’t want increased scrutiny of Jess.”

“And now? Do you think any of that can change so that we’re not cut off like that?”

“I don’t know. Everything about this is still complicated and dangerous. There are days I want to run from it all. But I also want to bring down my mother and her minions and end this. So, I keep going.

“In this moment, for this week, I’m just happy to be able to spend time with you.”

It’s not the answer Kara was hoping for. Lena hasn’t come right out and admitted feelings, but their history paired with what’s been left unsaid broadcasts loudly to Kara that there is something significant between them. Kara would like some acknowledgement of that potential, but at the same time she can see that Lena is having trouble committing to anything but this overarching mission she’s assigned herself.

“If that’s what we can have, then I’ll take it,” Kara answers.

She and Lena remain quietly attached to each other for a few minutes until she realizes Lena has dozed off propped between the pillows and Kara’s shoulder. 

“Let’s get you to bed,” she whispers to her companion. There’s a mumbled response. 

Kara lifts Lena to shift blankets and then puts her back among the pillows. Pulling the covers up, she lays a hand on a cheek and whispers, “Sleep well.”

She watches Lena sleepily shift onto to her side and more deeply into the bed, then grabs her cape and boots on the way out.

\---

Kara syncs her breathing to neon lights pulsing through her window. The physical rhythm helps to buffer her emotions as she tries to think things through. Lena has feelings for her – she knows that. That the other woman doesn’t want to allow herself to do anything about them if they interfere with what Lena sees as a higher purpose or if they could put people at an elevated risk is also apparent. Not for the first time, Kara mentally damns Lillian Luthor for all her unredeemable qualities and choices and the toll they’ve taken on her daughter. 

Thinking through the situation, Kara decides the right move is to be respectfully present when she can. If Lena has any misgivings about the conversation and closeness, Kara can reassure her that they’re alright. They can spend time together and see where it goes. Somewhat satisfied, she retreats to bed.

Morning light finds her helping with a small apartment complex attempting to fall into a sinkhole. With the situation stabilized, she calls CatCo and gets clearance to cover the story from out of the office.

Kara goes to the DEO under the pretense of getting a fresh suit, and shortly after is set up with her laptop across the room from Winn’s desk. It’s time for a little reporting while arrayed in clean red, gold, and blue.

Alex wanders through as the morning wears on and, spotting Kara, makes her way over. 

“Hey, how was the DEO version of game night? More thrilling than the Superfriends version?”

Kara focuses on her screen as she attempts to get a thought down while answering, “It was good. A chance for some normalcy in the mess.”

Alex taps on the top of her head to get her attention.

“What?”

“Any meaningful conversations?”

Kara’s eyes flit upward before settling back on the screen.

“Yes.”

“And?”

“Some people have a very strong sense of duty.”

“Huh,” Alex says, face placid, “I don’t know anyone like that.” 

A disgruntled mutter about unhelpful siblings escapes Kara. 

Alex shoots her a sympathetic smirk and inquires, “So what next?”

“I’m going to be present and supportive. And hopefully not pushy.”

Alex’s lips curl in a thoughtful expression. “Not a bad plan. And that’s why a reporter is moonlighting as a superhero in the DEO’s work area.” She points at Kara’s byline on-screen.

“That and the entertainment value,” Kara says gesturing towards Winn’s desk.

Her location gives her a clear view of the serious work being done by the DEO tech guru and the visiting cybersecurity expert. Kara had been half-listening to the two argue about secure cryptosystems while continuing their attempts to hack Cadmus. Now they’re playing finger flick football while exchanging cutting remarks on whether the sport played with a pigskin deserves the name football.

“I guess some would enjoy that,” Alex comments.

“They were arm-wrestling over something earlier. I almost went over to challenge the winner.”

Alex grins, admitting “The looks on their faces would have been entertaining.” Then she rests a hand briefly between Kara’s shoulder blades, letting her know, “I’m around all day so come find me if you need me.”

“Thanks.”

She feels good about her strategy when Lena stops by on her way out for a meeting at the treatment center. She’s rushed but seems eager to hear about Kara’s day, so Kara relates a short, punchy story about collapsing buildings as Lena listens attentively. Kara’s relieved that their conversation from the night before has left no awkwardness. If anything, Lena seems more at ease with her as they talk, and her smile energizes Kara’s mood. 

After Lena notices the time and hastily departs, Kara takes on the extensive edits, sprinkled with a bad pun or three, that come back on her sinkhole story draft. She really does like this new editor even as she quietly groans through both the corrections and the jokes.

She’s just finishing up when she overhears an outburst from Teo, “She what?!”

Teo appears at her desk and Kara flips her laptop closed. 

He gesticulates behind himself, explaining, “Winn was just telling me about how Lena hacked the DEO system and I was being a proud cyberbuddy. Then he told me she contacted you by text before we came here. Is that true?”

“Yes,” Kara answers. “But nothing identified her. I had to deduce.”

Teo sticks his hand out. “Give me your phone, please.”

“Why?”

“She shouldn’t have sent anything to you. If she’s going to do that, let me check your communications. Winn can make any adjustments I need him to; I won’t see anything on it.”

“What’s wrong with DEO encryption?”

Teo almost puffs up. “Lena has never successfully hacked me, so I’d feel better if she’s sending messages to a device I’ve reviewed.”

She can see Winn mouthing, “Just give him the phone.” She relinquishes it and gets back to work.

Teo brings it back an hour later. He shows her what he and Winn did and, surprising Kara, where and how Lena’s contact is encoded, noting, “Now you two can communicate securely if you need to.”

As he hands the phone over, he continues, “Just so you know, she’s different here. Still driven as hell, but at the same time more relaxed. I might even say happier.”

Kara takes the phone and cocks her head to look up at him, uncertain where this is coming from. “That’s good to hear,” she starts. “She can be so focused to the exclusion of other things, like food, and sleep. And I know it’s been a while, but she did tell me it was difficult when she first left National City and L Corp.”

“Those times were rough,” Teo agrees. “She overindulged in an unhealthy activity or two, but her control is so finely honed that few of us noticed. And her mind doesn’t have to be operating even near capacity and she’s still as productive as multiple people. She got through it eventually and settled. But here, especially when she interacts with you, she reminds me of the woman who used to light up and geek out when she came by my old company. It’s good to see.”

“I like to see her happy too,” Kara affirms.

Teo nods and points a finger at her phone. “Then use that,” he stresses before walking away. She glances down at the phone, then thoughtfully at Teo’s departing form, before turning back to her laptop. She sends her final copy before she takes his advice.

 _Hope you don’t mind. T put your number on my new ultra-secure phone_. She ‘signs’ it with a bird and a plane and a laughing winky face. 

The response takes a minute. A thumbs-up emoji and a heart appear, and Kara barely resists the desire to spin her chair in public.

\---

The upgrades Teo made come in handy the next day when neither she nor Lena is at the DEO. Kara juggles a day with an uptick in needed Supergirl saves and a work deadline and Lena is with her bioengineers.

They exchange texts that are mundane, but only relative to their abnormal lifestyles, checking in on each other in a casual way. Kara feels a lightness in the communications between them; they’ve never had this before, everything out in the open, and it’s the most natural connection she’s felt with anyone besides Alex.

On Sunday, Kara, Lena, and Alex meet in the DEO to discuss and coordinate roles outside the Cadmus sites. Several of Lena’s pieces of luggage house the warsuit, and she gives Alex and Kara a rundown of its functions. They go over rules of engagement, protocols for the support teams, and procedures for working with medical staff, covering questions and ideas for how to approach the facilities and what to do after until Alex is called away.

Lena and Kara are wrapping up when Dr. Koo enters with J’onn.

“The data you’ve shared on the parallel trials are fascinating, Lena,” Dr. Koo says admiringly. “It’s impressive that you were able to work in those modifications so quickly. That takes a very specialized expertise and understanding in that field.”

“We worked with a group led by Dr. Spheer,” Lena explains. “I’m sure you’ve heard of her – an expert on infectious diseases who works on bioterrorism issues, including bioweapons. Her group deserves much of the credit.”

J’onn’s eyes had narrowed as Lena spoke. “Including an outside group in this wasn’t agreed on when we met,” he huffs.

Lena meets his gaze evenly, her expression unyielding. “It didn’t need to be. A shortcoming of the process was pointed out in a meeting with the DEO. I addressed it, and to do so, I made necessary arrangements. We’re not partners bound by a contract. We’re independent entities working on a mission that is mutually beneficial.”

Kara breaks the ensuing seconds of silence to ask, “Dr. Spheer?”

Lena turns to her, expression relenting slightly. “Jack’s older sister. I’ve known her for years. I trust her.”

She looks back to address the two DEO members, “She worked with Jack and me in the early years of our project on cancer and nanobot technology before deciding that protecting the world against expanding bioterrorism threats was her calling. Her motivations and credentials are impeccable. There’s no reason to question her group’s assistance.”

“At this point, we don’t have much choice whether we do or not, given we weren’t consulted on her collaboration,” J’onn replies.

“Then we seem to be in agreement that what’s done is done,” Lena concludes, turning away.

J’onn nods but his unhappiness is still apparent. “Yes. We’ll keep it in mind as this mission moves forward,” he calls to Lena’s back.

Lena exits the room with J’onn’s angry eyes and Dr. Koo’s confused eyes on her. Kara glances between them before trailing after her. 

Down a quiet hallway, Lena turns to Kara as she walks up. She’s fiddling with the hair falling over her shoulders but as soon as Kara is close enough she gives voice to her exasperation.

“This is why I didn’t see a future where we would be working with the DEO. My decisions are questioned not because of my competence but because of who I am.”

Kara puts up a half-hearted defense, “You did dismiss his comments rather than talking.”

“And he attacked rather than talking,” Lena spits out and throws up her hands before letting them fall to her sides, resigned. “And what’s talking going to do, Kara? Both Teo and I are tracked all over the DEO. That follows DEO security protocol for visitors without certain clearance, so we accepted it when we arrived. But we’ve done nothing suspicious; in fact, we’ve helped out on unrelated issues. I’ve even shared parts of the work we’ve done against Cadmus. And nothing has changed. That distrust still hangs over anything and anyone associated with me. Talking isn’t going to fix it.”

“I’m sorry that’s happening, that I can’t change it. But believe that I trust you,” Kara stresses.

Lena looks at Kara, her words coming out on as an exhale, “I know you do.”

Kara unexpectedly finds herself in a position to make a pitch to Lena, one that may get Lena to see past the barriers she’s put up between them, barriers that have clear reasons, but those reasons ignore important realities. 

“Then let me help you. With all of this. Not just efforts that officially involve the DEO.”

“We talked about the divided loyalties that could cause, Kara,” Lena counters, shaking her head. “We had that conversation over nine months ago. The DEO is not going to worry much about work they do that is at odds with what I’m doing. This partnership between the two groups is short-term.”

“I understand that,” Kara insists. “My position hasn’t changed – I’ve trusted you; I still trust you. Why won’t you trust me, trust my judgement? Give me a chance instead of shutting me out?”

“It’s not just me. I’m responsible for other people.”

“And I have experience making decisions when people hang in the balance, Lena. I know how profoundly my actions can shape plans and outcomes. Give me some credit. I’m not going to let you down. Helping you defeat Cadmus matters to me. You matter to me.”

Kara holds Lena’s gaze, earnest. She can see Lena calculating, trying to use only logic and analysis to make a decision, even as exasperation and frustration and loneliness and relief and something that may be deeper than fondness pass across her face.

Kara repeats her request, “Believe me on this.”

Kara watches Lena’s face clear of competing thoughts and emotions as she chooses. Her voice is low as she gives her answer, “I do. And I care about you, too.”

Kara softly touches the back of Lena’s hand and responds, “Good. Then can we try to do this together?”

Lena releases her breath in a puff, looking down at Kara’s hand on hers. She’s nodding as she says, “I would like that. So maybe, maybe it’s possible. We could talk about it.” 

Her expression is uncertain as she looks back up at Kara, reminiscing, “I thought the last time we were stuck together was filled with intense conversations.”

Kara smiles reassuringly at Lena, reminding her, “I think we’ve both discovered some things since then that are making these more intense.” 

She drops her hand back to her side and they both look away, each needing a little space. Kara thinks they may be on a path to throwing away the figurative clock that is counting down their time together.

Kara eventually pipes up, “Should we find Dr. Koo? She really wanted to discuss the testing with you.”

“Yeah, let’s do that,” Lena says, sounding grateful for the suggestion.

Kara leaves Lena and Dr. Koo talking about biological reaction pathways, other duties calling her away. 

That evening, she visits Alex. After hearing the events of the day, Alex advises caution in how Kara deals with the DEO and Lena’s group for the same reasons Lena presented. Ultimately, though, she sends Kara off with a pledge of support for her instincts on this. Bolstered by her sister, Kara is positive she and Lena can find a way to stay connected.

\---

Though Kara means to see Lena the next day, circumstances keep her occupied for much of it, and schedules keep them apart during the short period she is at the DEO. She sends a couple of texts to check in. Hearing back from Lena helps her manage her anxiety about the approaching mission and Lena’s departure plans.

On Day 6, data from Lena’s parallel experiments indicate the contamination should occur the next afternoon, and final preparations begin.

Kara reviews the plan with Alex, Agent Jensen, and Lena in a nondescript DEO conference room. They’ve covered much of it before, so they work on updates, including information from Winn and Teo’s successful breach of certain communication systems at the secondary site. That will give Lena an advantage for site surveillance.

The meeting over, Alex glances at Kara as she walks out the door, calling to her, “The suit must be getting old. You’ll be able to wear business casual again soon.”

“I do miss the button-up and glasses look,” Lena comments eyeing Kara up and down, the two of them alone now in the room.

Kara returns the look and teases, “Ms. Luthor, are you flirting with me?”

Lena blushes but she doesn’t back down, matching Kara’s tone, “Maybe. Or maybe I just appreciate a good button-up-cardigan combination.” She bumps a shoulder into Kara.

Kara laughs before turning more somber. “So, could we talk about tomorrow...and afterwards?”

Lena nods, agreeing, “Teo and I have a status call that will take a while, but after that.”

Catching sight of Lena walking away from Teo’s desk a few hours later, Kara jogs up beside her and leans in to ask, “Do you want to get out of here?”

“That would be wonderful.”

Kara flies them to the top of a nearby foothill.

Sitting next to each other on the sparse grass on an overcast spring day, they silently enjoy the view of the desert spreading out below them until Kara asks, “Are you nervous?”

“Yes. But not about the potential for physical confrontation. My worry is around whether this works and Cadmus is affected. Months of long days and nights led to this. It all comes to a head tomorrow.” Lena looks over at Kara. “You?”

“A little. But I should be able to handle anything at the sites,” Kara answers.

Kara notices Lena shiver with the late afternoon breeze and she wraps her arm and cape around her.

Lena pulls the cape tight after flipping her ponytail out from under it and says quietly, “I need to leave the day after tomorrow.”

Kara’s body stiffens, even though she’s been expecting this. She quickly relaxes, feeling Lena starting to move away at the reaction, and she lightly pulls on her to let her know it’s okay. Lena leans back towards her.

“But we’re not done, right?” Kara asks.

“No, we’re not. But there’s no guarantee it’ll work,” Lena asserts. “There’s the conflict issue on your side if you’re trying to help me. And, then there’s my side. Months ago, when I went into that Cadmus facility after you, I put you before the plan, before the work my team had done up to that point. It was one of the reasons I didn’t fight their decision that I needed to leave, because it was an error in judgment that I could see myself repeating if I didn’t. And beyond that, being in contact with you, someone who has a regular life, is a security risk.”

Kara had focused her eyes on the ground as Lena spoke. She’s hearing what she had suspected about Lena’s rescue of her. But she’s thought this through and she's ready.

“But if we’re working together,” Kara tries, “if we’re communicating, then you’re not making decisions in a vacuum when information unexpectedly drops into your lap. You won’t feel obligated to jump into situations without the input of your team. And not all of my life is regular. In fact, given your team doesn’t know who I am, you’re going to be dealing with Supergirl, who’s highly irregular. Whatever protocols we need to follow, just let me know.

“I’m not saying it must work out. I just want us to try.”

“I do too," Lena says. "But there’s a lot we would have to discuss and agree on.”

“It’s not just about working together,” Kara hints shyly, looking up. 

“I know,” Lena says as she tucks an arm around Kara’s waist. “We can talk about that too, after this is over tomorrow.”

They leave it then, wrapped together in the cape as the shadows elongate. Shortly after, Lena’s phone buzzes, signaling an end to their getaway.

“It’s Teo. We need to do a final suit check before tomorrow.”

“I’ll get you back.”

Kara touches down with Lena at the entrance to the DEO. Setting the other woman on her feet, Kara pulls her into a long hug that is firmly returned.

“I’ll see you in the morning.”

“See you then,” Lena replies. 

Kara steps away and floats up, keeping Lena in sight. Lena doesn’t move. Finally, she waves and Lena waves back. Kara turns and speeds home, possibility and melancholy mixing in her like the colors of the refracted sunlight breaking through the clouds around her.

\---

Her alarm blares at 5 AM and Kara silences it with a completely ineffective shushing noise and a more useful, carefully-placed tap. She rolls out of bed, dons her suit, grabs as many items of high-calorie food as she can from the cupboards to eat in transit, and heads in.

Entering the main room, she sees Alex across a sea of people. Her sister holds up an earpiece and she can hear her words over the bustling activity, “We’ll be talking in a few minutes.” Kara nods back.

She needs to do one more thing before she’s ready for action.

Kara finds Lena separate from the commotion. She’s in the warsuit, Teo making final notes on a tablet, as Kara walks up. 

“Everything’s ready,” Teo informs Lena.

“Thank you. I’ll see you later today,” Lena replies.

He looks between them. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Kara says as he departs. 

She turns to Lena unsure how this farewell scene will play out. “I guess this is it.”

Lena doesn’t leave it to chance though, bending forwards, and Kara feels lips pressing on her cheek next to her lips, stirring up a memory of Lena’s departure months ago.

“Please be careful,” is breathed into her ear, causing her to shudder. 

She turns towards Lena, emboldened, and brushes her lips lightly over Lena’s before responding, “I will. You do the same.”

Kara looks into startled but happy green eyes as Lena nods. “I will.” Then she’s walking away to meet up with her DEO backup. 

Kara stands motionless, sinking into feelings for a few seconds before bringing the mission back into focus. She goes to find her own team.

\---

Kara’s watching and waiting outside Cadmus ends that afternoon when a man carrying an unconscious young woman and supporting a young man exits an underground entrance not far from the building. Kara intercepts them as they head down an alleyway.

The man supporting the others frantically explains he’s a nurse and these patients need medical attention. The chaos in the facility behind them allowed him to get them out but both are at risk without either an infusion of what are now dead and dying cultures or surgery, which Cadmus isn’t providing.

Kara alerts the staff who have prepared for this and rushes the patients to the treatment center, returning quickly for the nurse. On their trip over he tells her these are the only Cadmus subjects affected by the biological sabotage; a third with alterations is further along and not dependent on the affected material. Kara leaves him with the doctors to fill them in.

J’onn is serving as additional security for the center and Kara lets him know they don’t need to monitor Cadmus for other patients. He agrees the backup team should stay in place just in case the situation changes but releases Kara to head back.

She’s relieved as she enters the DEO. They seem to be meeting their objective and avoiding casualties. 

Her sense of calm is eliminated by the activity that she finds. She spots Alex grabbing gear.

“Alex, what’s going on?”

Alex doesn’t even look at her as she slides a Kevlar vest on and grabs comms, “It’s the second site.”

Dread fills Kara. “What about it?”

“About two minutes ago Lena reported a disturbance heard over the facility’s communications system. She went in less than a minute ago.”

“With the DEO team?” Kara asks, trying to remain calm.

Alex’s face is composed as she holsters her favorite gun and answers, “They weren’t meant to engage. She told them she was going in and did. But now we can’t contact...”

Before the word “her” is out of Alex’s mouth, Kara is gone. She can just hear Alex swearing after her and then yelling, “Winn, tell that team to expect Supergirl on site. And I need that pilot.”


	4. Aftermath

Kara lands near Cadmus’ site so the entrance is visible and the DEO team can see her. 

She hears crashing inside but before she can react a yellow-skinned humanoid in navy scrubs and no shoes is quickly backing out of the building with Lena between them and Cadmus members hovering behind cover in the building. Lena has active targeting engaged but the alien is also leaning into her while staying hidden, almost as if Lena, the suit, or both are damaged and need help remaining upright.

Kara grabs both before any more blows or fire can be exchanged. She sets them down a few streets away, still holding onto one of Lena’s arms in case she needs it. She looks through to the facility but there’s no further movement. Cadmus has enough problems internally and isn’t pursuing anyone.

The side of the warsuit sparks as she turns to her two recent passengers standing next to each other and looking startled by the abrupt change in position. “Are you alright?” Kara asks.

“I am,” Lena responds, regaining her composure. “Just a few knocks. The suit took most of the damage. You?” She looks to her right.

“Just bumps and bruises. You and that suit shielded me. Thank you.” The alien turns to Kara. “And you, Supergirl.”

“What happened?” Kara asks the alien.

“I was kidnapped about ten days ago. When the alarms went off in the facility, I was being moved from an exam room to my cell. The alarm sequence and the way doors and vents started to shut confused my guards. They had no idea what was going on. I disarmed and incapacitated them in the chaos, and then I ran, eventually into more trouble. I have heightened senses and strength for my kind, so I was putting up a good fight but then she,” a gesture at Lena who is tweaking the suit electronics to stabilize the damage but is obviously also listening given she looks up immediately, “showed up. Improved the odds.”

“Have you been operated on or given anything?” Kara asks, concerned.

“No. They just ran tests, establishing baselines they said.”

“Did you see anyone else being held or operated on?”

“No. I only saw one doctor and I overheard him tell a nurse that I was their first subject.”

“We should get you to our medical staff for a checkup,” Lena says. “And then to your people, ...” she trails off, realizing a missing introduction.

“You can call me Gar.” The alien smiles. “There aren’t others like me here. My abilities made me unwelcome on my planet. I am part of a community in National City though, and I’d like to get back to it.”

“The DEO team can transport you for a quick medical check,” Kara offers, focused on getting Lena back to the DEO.

“No,” Lena counters her as Gar takes a step away, suspicion clear. “Supergirl, you should do it. We don’t need a covert enforcement agency involved when no one’s done anything wrong. Our staff can make sure everything is in order, physically and otherwise, and get people reunited. I’ll make my way over to the DEO team.”

Kara regards Lena for several seconds and then agrees, “Of course.” 

“Is that alright with you?” she asks and Gar nods.

Kara returns to pick up Lena from the DEO team after leaving Gar at the clinic, assured all checks would be conducted and a reunion completed. Alex is on site helping Lena remove malfunctioning pieces that can’t be fixed without specialized equipment.

Kara exchanges a look with her sister that relays relief but also a touch of frustration between them. They’ll need a future conversation.

Alex lets them know she’ll head back shortly with the DEO team and Kara turns to Lena.

“Can you still fly?”

“No.”

“Care for a lift?”

“Please.”

The flight back is quick and silent except for Kara checking in that Lena is comfortable given the bulky suit makes carrying somewhat awkward. Lena doesn’t respond beyond answering that she’s fine.

Teo and Winn meet them upon landing. Lena brushes off Teo’s questions about the few visible marks on her, labeling them scratches and bruises. The three head toward one of the labs to handle suit repairs and for Lena to update Teo and Winn on how the communications hack went.

Kara’s worried about Lena’s aloof demeanor since she caught up to her at the second facility, but she pushes it aside until she can wrap up lingering tasks. 

She checks in with Jensen and Vasquez in the command center, providing them with mission details on the two DEO teams. As she finishes with that a message that Alex and J’onn are arriving soon sends her to the dormitory area to get cleaned up.

Done and dressed in a DEO track suit, Kara finds Alex in the main area. The two re-start their non-verbal communication from the field in the look they share as Kara moves across the room. Reaching the table covered with readouts Alex is working on, Kara lets her anxiety flare, asking with annoyance “How do your improbable hypotheticals always seem to become reality?”

Alex meets her attitude with a shrug, countering, “A gift, I guess. But I was right about her handling Cadmus with that suit, wasn’t I? And why do you go flying off without a plan?”

They glare for several seconds before Kara yields, the tension breaking. “OK, fair. But her suit got damaged.” She sighs, shoulders slumping. “I just wanted this to play out cleanly. Sorry for coming off so strongly.”

Alex nods and reminds her sister, “Didn’t I mention at the beginning of this that clean scenarios are unrealistic?” Her tone turns reassuring, and she reaches over to gently squeeze Kara’s upper arm. “It’s all looking good – objective achieved, no casualties. You and Lena took care of those held by Cadmus. We’ll debrief when J’onn gets here and they finish up in the lab, but the preliminary assessment appears to be we count today as a win.”

“That is good,” Kara says but her enthusiasm dims quickly as she mumbles, “She’s leaving.”

“I know. And you two still need to decide what’s next, don’t you?”

Kara nods and Alex pulls her into a hug, whispering to her, “You’re going to figure this out,” before letting her go. Kara lets Alex’s confidence bolster hers, even if it’s a minimal boost.

They’re still looking over reports when Vasquez calls them to the debriefing 30 minutes later. They walk up to the door just as Lena, also coming from the dormitory area in DEO wear with damp hair pulled back in a braid, arrives with Winn.

At Kara’s curious look around, Winn chimes in, “Teo’s phoning home,” before following Alex into the room. Kara’s gaze then falls on Lena who is smiling softly at her.

She gestures to the room, a tablet held in her hand, “After you, Supergirl.” Her other hand comes up to land briefly on Kara’s back, as if guiding her forward, though Kara thinks they may just both need the contact, however fleeting, with the day they’re having. She moves into the room, Lena trailing her and separating when J’onn calls her over to an empty seat next to him.

J’onn asks Lena if she would like to lead the briefing, but she demurs. He narrates the steps in the operation and how well it has turned out. From the hacked communications and the preliminary interviews with the people rescued, the mission at this point is deemed a success, though Cadmus will need monitoring to see how long capacity is affected.

Kara watches as Lena’s eyes remain down for much of the time. She wonders why Lena isn’t basking in this outcome until she sees her eyes squeeze tightly shut and it hits her from the conversations they’ve had how overwhelming this may be and the relief she’s likely experiencing, especially in light of the pressure she’s been under.

Lena composes herself quickly though, looking up as J’onn wraps up and addresses her, “Cadmus knows that suit. They may have suspected your involvement before, but now they know. If they weren’t actively looking for you, they will be now.”

Lena’s gaze sweeps the room before returning to J’onn. “I’m sure my mother has strongly suspected my involvement for some time. We committed some low-level sabotage from the beginning, but the acceleration of attacks after my withdrawal from L Corp and the public eye – she wouldn’t see that as a coincidence. The suit would be a surprise to her, but not me in it.

“We knew we had to move out of the shadows for this, but it was considered worth the risk. We’ll enhance our countermeasures. If their response is to step up their attempts to find us, or me, it confirms that we’ve moved from a consistent low-level annoyance and drain on their resources to a high-level threat. If that happens, we’re making a difference, and that means we’re achieving our goals.”

“You’ll be continuing your efforts?” J’onn asks.

“Of course. Until Cadmus is ended,” Lena responds. 

J’onn nods. “We may not always agree on approaches, but the DEO is also striving for that.”

“Then I wish you luck,” Lena says.

“You as well. This is good-bye then?” J’onn continues.

Lena nods. “Teo and I will be gone by tomorrow morning. We’ll check out with Winn and Dr. Koo on the tech and medical matters and pack up.”

The meeting ends with that and the personal stake she has in the next hours fully hits Kara. She scrambles to catch up to Lena who is walking out with Winn, likely to rejoin Teo. As she reaches them, Lena turns. She must read the urgency in Kara’s face and sends a glance and head tilt at Winn indicating he should go on. Kara catches the sympathetic yet encouraging look Alex throws her as she walks by, the last to clear the area.

Kara fidgets and her eyes flit over the floor before she steadies herself. Looking up, she finds green eyes and entreats, “I know I said I would take whatever we could share this week, and the mission’s over now. But I was hoping … would you come with me, please? I’ll get you back to where you need to be tomorrow.”

Lena holds Kara’s gaze during this request. When Kara finishes she looks down at her tablet, tapping a few times before looking back up and smiling. “Teo can finish up with Winn. I need to give Dr. Koo a quick update on the data I sent her. Meet you back here?”

“Yes.” Kara relaxes at the quick agreement.

She changes back into a fresh supersuit, stuffing the athletic wear in a small satchel. She shoots Alex a vague text on her whereabouts that Alex accepts without question given the lack of response beyond ‘OK’.

Kara returns to the rendezvous point to find Lena already there with her own, bigger bag. She puts a hand out to take Kara’s.

“Ready to go,” Lena says as she puts the satchel over her shoulder. “Do you have a place in mind?”

“Wherever you want to go.”

“Let’s head out and I’ll tell you when we’re airborne – too many ears here.”

With a thin, rapidly disappearing line of color left over from the sunset all that is still visible on the horizon, they land at a small cottage on a hillside that slopes down to the shore. With Kara following, Lena punches a keypad to unlock the door and then another inside to pass the security check. She puts her bag down and heads to the gold and black marbled granite island in the kitchen area of the cozy, open floorplan, picking a bottle of red wine off of the rack there. Kara speeds herself back into casual clothing while Lena’s otherwise occupied. Lena raises an eyebrow when she turns with the bottle, opener, and two glasses in her hands to ask, “Wine?”

“Please,” Kara answers, moving to the other side of the island.

Lena uncorks the bottle and Kara takes it from her. She pours and then gets two glasses of water while Lena gathers crackers, olives, nuts, apples, grapes, and cheese from the small pantry and fridge onto a wood platter. Lena searches further and finds protein bars, which she sets in a small bowl with some napkins also tucked in it.

They make their way to the burgundy couch that, with two dark brown chairs opposite and a small coffee table in between, demarcates the sitting area between the island’s barstools and a window that takes up most of the wall looking out to the horizon. Kara notices a few lights in the darkness, likely from ships out on the ocean headed into or out from National City or another nearby port.

Kara sets the glasses she’s carrying on the table, then mirrors Lena who, having set the board and bowl in the middle of the couch, sits cross-legged facing it, her back nestled into pillows against the arm of the couch.

“We should eat something,” Lena says lightly, waving at the food between them. Kara nods and they both start, mainly chewing and sipping in silence with occasional comments on the ocean or ship horns or, with the growing light of the moon, their surroundings. 

Kara lets it all pass by, feeling like each of them needs this time to regroup before diving into deeper areas. She doesn’t feel anxious and, given she’s been unable to just be in the moment for much of the past week, it a nice change.

The intensity of snacking has slowed, and the dishes are cleared to the table. They’ve been sitting quietly for a few minutes, Lena looking out the window and Kara with her head laying on the back of the couch, eyelids heavy and almost closed while contemplating. She sits up, careful not to startle Lena but wanting to draw her attention.

When Lena looks at her, Kara makes the dive. “Today,” she starts voice quiet and head tilted to the side, “it scared me. What happened with you scared me.”

Lena’s reply is a tight smile and an audible exhale through her nose as she picks up her wine glass from the table. “It scared me too,” she says, taking a drink.

At Kara’s eyes narrowing quizzically, Lena elaborates, “The risks I’ve been willing to take or think about taking for this mission – this operation was so important to me and I didn’t realize how much it dominated my life until going into that facility and then at the debriefing. I want Cadmus eliminated. That’s been driving me - wanting them gone, wanting the pain they cause people gone.”

A tremor runs through her and she gives a shake after, but when Kara reaches out with concern, she lifts a hand and Kara drops back. 

“When I talked to Alex as I was leaving that house when you were finally safe,” Lena continues, “she asked me if I was sure I wanted to follow this path. She said there was no guarantee for how this all plays out.” 

She raises her hand again when Kara exhales, “Oh Lena,” and leans forward at the sight of a tear slowly rolling down a cheek. Kara doesn’t move any closer, but she also doesn’t move back this time and Lena seems to accept it as she goes on.

“I understood that here,” she taps her temple. “I still do, and I accept the uncertainty. But I haven’t engaged with the other sides of this path that come with that potential for loss, for sacrifice. Going into that facility brought all of it at me. And learning that the plan actually worked just compounded that realization of the actual and potential costs.

Lena stops, a few more tears falling. She hangs her head, and Kara tentatively reaches a hand over to rub the back of her neck, trying to help her through this catharsis with contact. After a few minutes the quivering breathing adjusts, and Lena raises her head and wipes her face. Kara’s surprised when Lena’s next move is to reach across to her and she feels a swipe of wetness as Lena blots an unnoticed tear with the shirt sleeve she’s pulled over the heel of her hand. She’d been so focused on Lena, she’d overlooked her own reaction. “Thank you,” she says.

Kara pulls her hand back from where it was resting on Lena’s neck and as she does Lena captures it with her own. She next gathers Kara’s other hand up in the space between them until she’s holding them both in hers. She looks up. “Today has been a lot.”

“Yeah, it has,” Kara agrees. 

She tries to put her muddled thoughts on the day into words as well, glancing between Lena’s face and their hands. “I knew you’d likely been in dangerous situations during our time apart. I’ve tried not to think about it because there was nothing I could do. Today, I could do something, and you still landed in danger, literally. After today, you’re even more of a target. I’m thinking about what’s the best way to keep you and your people safe, about what that would mean. And, selfishly, I’m thinking about what that likely means in terms of losing you again, if that’s the safer route.”

Lena is shaking her head slowly with Kara’s last words and she squeezes Kara’s hands firmly before responding, “Kara, that’s the thing. You pointed out to me that others beyond my team could help with this, that our efforts could be strengthened. You offered to help me carry this load, this responsibility I feel. And today helped me understand that the way I’ve been determined to approach this may not be the best way going forward. I linked Cadmus being gone with being able to come back to L Corp, to my life. But I don’t want those things tied together anymore. I need to look at the whole picture and that’s more likely if I’m leading a whole life. 

“You being a part of moving forward from here, from now, is important to me,” Lena continues, “if you want that. You can help with our efforts – I agree with you on that. We can help each other. This doesn’t have to be about losing each other. I do still want to try, to see if it can work.”

Kara has felt the corners of her lips pulling up higher and higher as Lena has come to her hopeful conclusion. “I do too,” Kara blurts. 

She reaches a hand up from where it’s nestled in Lena’s to cup her cheek and wipes away a lingering tear near Lena’s chin with her thumb, eliciting a smile. “Are you alright?” she asks.

Lena nods and places her hand over Kara’s. “With this, I’m better than I’ve been in a while.” 

Kara sees the shift between them in Lena’s eyes, feels it in her own commitment to make a partnership, a relationship, work between them work. She glances down at Lena’s lips in time to catch her quickly licking them. “May I?” she asks.

Lena leans in for an answer, pushing their lips gently together. Kara feels a bit like she’s floating but, unwilling to open her eyes, she instead drops her hand to quickly check where she is relative to the couch. Satisfied she’s still grounded, she brings both hands up to Lena’s face while Lena’s hands move to grip the tops of her thighs for better balance.

The gentle exploration of their first kisses moves to something a bit more aggressive when Kara presses her tongue lightly against Lena’s lower lip. After another kiss, both move to a more thorough investigation of her partner. Kara lets herself fall into the intimacy, hands roaming with careful inquisitiveness as lips and occasionally tongues meet each other or soft skin again and again.

Kara breaks away for a couple of stabilizing breaths before meeting Lena’s gaze again. She’s sure the grin on Lena’s face is mirrored by an infatuated one on her own. Lena looks away to rest her chin on Kara’s shoulder. Kara feels the looseness, the exhaustion in Lena and, surprisingly, herself. As enjoyable as this is, they’re both spent mentally and emotionally. She even feels a creeping physical tiredness and imagines that Lena is probably still engaged due to pure willpower.

She almost laughs out loud at the matching of reality to her thoughts when Lena brings a hand up to cover an enormous yawn.

“Sorry,” Lena says, moving off Kara’s shoulder with a somewhat abashed expression. “Could we continue this somewhere more comfortable?” She strokes a hand through Kara’s hair. “I’m not complaining - this is more than I imagined or maybe even secretly hoped could happen - but I may have about five minutes of consciousness left.”

Kara does laugh at that, kissing the tip of Lena’s nose before she gets up and carefully pulls Lena up from the couch. She lets go to flip off the light switch. When she returns, Lena hand is outstretched in offering. Kara entangles her fingers with Lena’s in answer.

Moving into a bedroom brightened only by light from a window, Lena lets go of Kara’s hand and sits down on the bed where she discards her sweatshirt and socks before climbing under the sheets. Kara slips out of her tee and in next to her. Their being together here makes Kara content in a way she hasn’t quite felt before and she sinks her back into the mattress, lax.

Lena outdoes her prediction, taking advantage of Kara’s position to lean over her and initiate a second makeout session, interrupted a few times by tired giggles, that lasts almost ten minutes. She then nuzzles into Kara, a hand resting on her chest. Kara wants to stay like this, enjoying Lena’s warmth and quiet, regular breathing beside her, for as long as possible. She re-aligns slightly upward so she can rest with one arm under the pillow and the other draped around Lena. It doesn’t go quite to plan as she falls into contented sleep in seconds.

\---

Kara opens her eyes to weak beams of sunlight and faint sounds of surf. She greets the start of the day with a low groan. Not fully awake, she reaches blindly with one arm, but all around the azure sheets are empty and cool. Her feet hit the floor with a thud as she picks up on the heartbeat nearby. She pulls the DEO sweatshirt that Lena had been wearing the previous night over her sportsbra and pulls the bedroom door fully open from its cracked position.

Lena sits on a stool at the island, dressed in black slacks, a teal scoop top, and black boots and blazer. She’s holding the handle of a half-empty white mug of coffee and peering down at her phone. She looks up tentatively at Kara’s footsteps and raises a hand to push her hair back behind her shoulders.

Kara smiles, knowing it may be short-lived, and greets her, “Good morning.” She slides onto a stool next to her and stretches out a hand, palm up, on the granite. 

Lena glances down as she puts her hand over Kara’s. “Good morning,” Lena returns.

Kara’s eyes, like Lena’s, have moved to their hands and her smile dims. “You have to go now.”

“Yes,” Lena replies. “Feel free to stay here for a while. No one will check on the place until this evening.”

“Lena…”

Lena cuts in as Kara hesitates, speaking quickly, “I leave tomorrow for Dubrovnik. I land the next morning. I’ll be there for two days. Would you be able to join me? If you want to?

Kara’s smile returns to its initial wattage, joy building with the unexpected chance. She catches Lena’s gaze. “Yes,” she says earnestly. “So much. But, that won’t cause a problem?”

Lena grins back. “I can make a visit work. Especially because my visitor can avoid detection. Very soon I’ll have to let my team know – honestly, Teo probably knows after my less-than-convincing story yesterday but he won’t say anything – but we can work first things out there.”

Kara nods enthusiastically. “When do you want me to find you?”

Lena laughs, slipping paper with her writing on it out of a blazer pocket and across the table to Kara. “How about 11:00 PM the day that I land? That’s where I should be. I’ll be sure the suite has a balcony.” She glances at her phone, typing briefly then setting it down.

“I’ll be there,” Kara confirms.

Lena’s phone vibrates, and Kara grips the hand she still holds more tightly. “Right now?” she asks.

Lena places her other hand on Kara’s cheek and leans in to share a gentle kiss. “I’ve already put this off longer than I should’ve. But we’re seeing each other in two days,” Lena says confidently as she leans back.

She rises from the stool and grabs her bag from the floor a few feet away.

“I can take you to wherever you need to go,” Kara offers, rising also, and following her towards the door, half-heartedly trying to stall her.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Lena answers. She turns at the door and Kara catches her in a hug. Their good-bye kiss is lengthy and deep, Lena’s hands in Kara’s hair while Kara wraps her arms around Lena’s back, holding her as closely as she can.

“I’ll see you soon,” Kara whispers when they disengage, and she reluctantly lets her arms drop.

“Yes, you will.” Lena brushes a few strands of Kara’s hair behind her ear. Then she winks at her before turning to let herself out. 

Kara watches her until she sees her on the street below getting into a car that quickly departs. She leans against the wall and sighs. They will make this work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That took longer than expected. This story was an experiment in writing for me, one which has parts that I'm very happy with and others that I moved forward with. I knew when I started I would likely have something very dialogue-heavy because of what I was trying to do, and that ended up being true and more of a challenge than expected. I wanted to complete this, though, and I was able to bring it to the conclusion I had in mind when I started it 10 months ago - a significant correction occurred in how goals were being pursued and, on a related note, in Lena and Kara's relationship. Ten months ago, I also was considering doing a third multi-chapter in the series.


End file.
